TARIQUE KALAM and Pete Young joined an illustrious and burgeoning club when they jointly made their first-class debuts last weekend.

The duo, both 19, appeared for Oxford UCCE against Derbyshire in The Parks over Easter. Their selection means Guildford have now helped 12 players in the past 20 years into the first-class game, starting with Martin Bicknell in 1986.

He is one of three who have moved all the way up to Test cricket, with Ashley Giles and Rikki Clarke the others.

Tim Walter, skipper at Woodbridge Road, said: “It’s a great thrill for everyone at the club to see Tarique and Pete given their opportunity and we’re very pleased for them.

“We hope they both go on to great things as Martin, Ashley and Rikki have done.

“We’re very proud that we’ve been able to help so many cricketers get on in the game and it’s a privilege to see them develop into such fine cricketers. It’s a great inspiration to youngsters at the club.”

Kalam made an early impression by having Derbyshire opener Steve Stubbings caught down the legside while Young – whose bowling has rarely been used since he left Wellington College two years ago – removed Chris Taylor for his maiden first-class victim. And he proved invaluable at the end of the match. ensuring a draw with 28no.

Young, who bats left-handed but bowls with his right, is in his first year of studying city and leisure planning. He said: “We were going well in a run chase but lost a bit of momentum, so it was a case of seeing the game out. It was a massive learning experience facing the likes of Graeme Welch, Steffan Jones and Ian Hunter but I really enjoyed it. I’ve been working hard on my bowling with our coach Graham Charlesworth and it’s paid off.”

Kalam, who finished with 1-29 from 14 miserly overs in the first innings, attended the Surrey Academy before university where he in his first year studying sport and coaching.

He added: “It was a reasonably flat pitch and I was pleased with the way I bowled. Getting a first-baller in the second innings wasn’t quite as good!”

Charlesworth had a small part in the development of England left-arm spinner Giles, skippering him for a season when the pair played for Vredenburg-Saldana in 1993-94 in South Africa.

He commented: “Tarique was very steady and he can bat a bit too so we will give him every opportunity to develop that side of his game. Pete has come along really well. He can bowl to a plan and is building up a useful store of cricket knowledge. His batting has flowered too.”

Walter hopes that despite a busy programme for Oxford UCCE – which draws players from the city’s university and Oxford Brookes – the pair will be able to feature in most of Guildford’s early games on their return to the Shepherd Neame Surrey Championship Premier Division.

He said: “We’d love to see as much of them as possible and having players appearing in county and university sides certainly makes selection an interesting process each week.”

Giles, rejected by his native county but given an opportunity by Warwickshire, labelled Guildford’s achievement in helping the dozen to first-class cricket as a “fantastic achievement”. He was preceded by Martin Bicknell and Gary Winterborne (1986 debuts for Surrey), Darren Bicknell (1987, Surrey)) and Nick Peters (1988, Surrey).

After him came Andy Hollingsworth (Durham UCCE) and Clarke (Surrey) in 2002, Jade Dernbach and Neil Saker for Surrey in 2003 and Simon Hollingsworth (Durham UCCE) in 2004.

There are others in the pipeline too with opener Chris Thompson having just started a summer contract at The Oval while Young’s brother Ed, a left-arm spinner, has like him switched from Valley End. Young left-arm seamer Josh Cummings, 14, is also worth watching.